On Nov. 2, Will Mackintosh, assistant professor of history, presented a paper on transatlantic tourist satire at the 23rd Annual Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Conference in Pittsburgh, as part of that conference’s larger focus on tourism and travel as popular culture.
Michael McCarthy’s Poems Appear in The Southern Review
Michael McCarthy, a senior lecturer in the Department of English, Linguistics and Communication, had four poems published in the Autumn 2012 issue of The Southern Review. The poems, “Mothering,” “Harp Hung on Willows,” “Beneath,” and “Autumnal,” are his first in the prestigious journal, which is edited at Louisiana State University and was co-founded in 1935 by Robert Penn Warren.
Faculty and Alumni Participate in MARAC Conference
Jeffrey McClurken, associate professor of history and American studies, and Cristina Turdean, associate professor of historic preservation, presented at the recent Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) in Richmond. Their session, “Embedded: Special Collections & Archives in the Academic Curriculum,” focused on innovative ways faculty are structuring their academic curriculum and embedding primary resources into undergraduate instruction.
Carolyn Parsons, university archivist, served on the MARAC program committee, and two recent Mary Washington graduates, Kelsey Conway ’12 and Justine Rothbart’11, were awarded scholarships to attend the conference.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) promotes communication and learning among professionals interested in archives and records management, current digital initiatives, and preservation of historic and cultural resources.
Mark Scharf’s Play Nominated for Awards
Adjunct Instructor of Theatre & Dance Mark Scharf’s play “Hired Gun” has been nominated for six awards by BroadwayWorld.com, including Best New Play or Musical and Best Direction of a Play or Musical.
Stephen Farnsworth Elected Chair of APSA Section
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the university’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, has been elected chair of the political communication section of the American Political Science Association.
Farnsworth will lead the section, which includes nearly 500 political scientists who study media and politics, for two years. He previously served as vice chair of the section, as a member of its executive council, and as the section’s conference program chair.
Cate Brewer Performs at Keegan Theatre
Cate Brewer, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance, is currently playing Sue Bayliss in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at Keegan Theatre. See the Washington Post review below.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/at-keegan-theatre-all-my-sons-is-a-family-circle-of-secrets/2012/11/07/a1732354-290c-11e2-aaa5-ac786110c486_story.html
Jim Groom Keynotes JMU’s Teaching & Learning with Technology Conference
Image Credit: Grover Saunders made this Animated GIF during the presentation with Echograph (neat!)
Jim Groom, director of the Division of teaching and Learning Technologies, delivered the keynote presentation at James Madison University’s 9th Annual Teaching and Learning with Technology conference (you can see video of the presentation here). This presentation focused more specifically on the questions of universities outsourcing their expertise, how to design for online education, and how to build community online. The theme of the presentation was the overstatement of the death of higher ed in the media currently and how we can start to shed some of the reactionary rhetoric and start returning teaching and learning innovation to the colleges and universities rather than corporations like Pearson.
Slides from the presentation along with links are available below:
Theresa Grana Publishes Research Article
Assistant Professor of Biology Theresa Grana recently had her article “A Genome-wide Functional Screen Shows MAGI-1 Is an L1CAM-Dependent Stabilizer of Apical Junctions in C. elegans” published in the journal Current Biology. The article was co-authored by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, State University of New York at Geneseo, the University of Aberdeen Institute of Medical Sciences in Scotland, and Queen’s University in Canada.
Biology Faculty Present and Judge at Statewide Meeting
Deborah O’Dell, associate professor of biology and president-elect of the Virginia Academy of Science, presided over the Virginia Academy of Sciences Undergraduate Research Meeting on Saturday, Oct. 27 at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. Deborah Zies, associate professor of biology, was the invited speaker and spoke on “Smith-Magenis Syndrome: An Investigation of a Human Genome Disorder.” Lynn Lewis and Kathryn Loesser, professors of biology, served as judges for the research grant recipients along with Deborah Zies, Deborah O’Dell and Carleitta Paige, adjunct faculty member of biology. Faculty sponsoring students in competition for a $500 undergraduate research grant were: Lynn Lewis who sponsored Kathleen Blevins and Ryan Green, Theresa Grana, assistant professor of biology, who sponsored Sarah Marzec and Daniel Browne, and Andrew Dolby, professor of biology, who sponsored Abbigal Kimmit and Michael Carlo. Ryan Green was awarded a grant for his research project “A Study of Chloroquine’s Antiretroviral Characteristics.”
Chad Murphy is Guest on Al-Jazeera and Voice of America
Chad Murphy, assistant professor of political science, was a featured guest on Voice of America on Thursday, Nov. 1. In the segment “Unemployment Remains Key Factor for U.S. Voters,” Murphy argued that U.S. voters would look at the overall unemployment trends during the election.
Murphy also provided live political analysis on election night for Al-Jazeera’s English television network.